Friday, October 31, 2014

Six states produce most of the nation's pumpkins: Illinois, California, Ohio, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania. In Illinois, 77 percent of the pumpkin harvest ends up in a pie rather than on a porch. In the five other states, 88 to 99 percent of pumpkins are for the porch.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

If you're a typical worker, you didn't get a raise this year. More than two-thirds (68 percent) of Americans say no one in their household received a raise or promotion in the past 12 months, according to the Public Religion Research Institute's 2014 American Values Survey.

It's worse than that, however. American workers have been treading water for 120 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median weekly earnings of men and women with full-time wage and salary jobs have been stagnant for at least a decade. Here are the inflation adjusted numbers...

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The "education advantage" appears to be passed down from parents to children even more strongly than the income advantage, according to a Brookings Institution study. An analysis of the educational attainment of fathers and their adult children finds 46 percent of children whose fathers were in the top education quintile also ended up in the top quintile, and 76 percent were in the top two quintiles. Doing the same analysis with incomes reveals the comparable figures to be a smaller 41 and 65 percent.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The 46.9 percent homeownership rate of households headed by people aged 30 to 34 is a bit higher than the 46.5 percent all-time low recorded in the second quarter of 2014. But the difference is not statistically significant as the aging of first-time homebuyers continues. Householders aged 30 to 34 had long been the nation's first-time homebuyers. Historically, this was the age group in which homeownership became the norm—rising above 50 percent. But beginning in 2007, the homeownership rate of 30-to-34-year-olds went into a tailspin. In the second quarter of 2011, the rate fell below 50 percent for the first time. The latest numbers are another datapoint in the ongoing trend. The new age of first-time home buying is 35 to 39, but even this age group is slipping. The homeownership rate of 35-to-39-year-olds fell to 55.6 percent in the third quarter of 2014—close to the record low of 55.3 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2013.

Nationally, the homeownership rate slipped to 64.4 percent in the third quarter of 2014, down from 65.3 percent one year ago.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Going to college was once an experience that divided younger generations from older Americans. Now the divide has disappeared. Well, almost. Although the majority of men and women in every age group has college experience, there's one exception: women aged 65 or older are less educated than everyone else.

Only 46 percent of women aged 65-plus have college experience. In contrast, a much larger 64 percent of women under age 65 have been to college. Among men regardless of age, the majority has college experience—including 54 percent of men aged 65 or older.

But older women are playing catch-up as Boomers fill the 65-plus age group. In 2010, the year before the first Boomers turned 65, only 39 percent of women aged 65-plus had college experience. By 2016, most older women will have spent some time on a college campus, and college experience will become the norm for men and women in every age group.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Most Americans (84 percent) report having friends in their neighborhood, according to the 2013 American Housing Survey. Only 16 percent of households say they don't have friends, but the figure varies by homeownership status and other characteristics. Here is the percentage of households without friends in their neighborhood...

Homeowners (average with no friends = 12.1%)
8.3% of those aged 65 or older
9.3% of those in nonmetropolitan areas
13.4% of those in manufactured/mobile homes
15.8% of those in the suburbs
19.6% of those in central cities
20.9% of those in homes built in past four years

Renters (average with no friends = 24.3%)
16.6% of those in manufactured/mobile homes
16.8% of those aged 65 or older
21.8% of those in nonmetropolitan areas
24.1% of those in central cities
25.5% of those in the suburbs
26.5% of those in homes built in past four years

Monday, October 20, 2014

Only 56 percent of U.S. households have sidewalks in their neighborhood, according to the 2013 American Housing Survey. Sidewalks are even less common in the neighborhoods of the nation's homeowners—only 48 percent have them compared with 71 percent of renters.

Renters are more likely to have sidewalks in their neighborhood because many live in central cities where sidewalks are the norm. Fully 77 percent of central city households have sidewalks in their neighborhood compared with 54 percent of households in the suburbs and just 27 percent of households in nonmetropolitan areas. By region, homeowners in the South are least likely to have sidewalks in their neighborhood...

Friday, October 17, 2014

The number of homeowners who owe more for their house than it is worth fell by 1.7 million between 2011 and 2013, according to the Census Bureau's biennial American Housing Survey.

Just over 5 million homeowners reported in 2013 that they were underwater on their mortgage—or 11 percent of homeowners with a mortgage. This was less than the 6.8 million and 14 percent of homeowners with a mortgage who reported being underwater in 2011. Despite the progress, the 2013 figure is more than double what it was in 2007.

Number (and percent) of homeowners with a mortgage who are underwater
2013: 5.1 million (11 percent)
2011: 6.8 million (14 percent)
2009: 5.8 million (12 percent)
2007: 2.5 million (5 percent)

Thursday, October 16, 2014

The attitudes of Americans toward the treatment of Blacks by the criminal justice system is changing, in part due to public outrage over the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The majority of Americans no longer believe Blacks and Whites are treated equally by the criminal justice system.

The percentage of Americans who disagree with the statement, "Blacks and other minorities receive equal treatment as whites in the criminal justice system," climbed from 47 to 56 percent between 2013 and 2014. Even Whites are changing their mind. The percentage of Whites who disagree that Blacks and Whites are treated equally grew from 42 to 51 percent.

This loss is the result of two trends: a decline in the rate of natural population increase in nonmetro areas (births minus deaths) and a decline in net migration (people moving in minus people moving out), which has been negative since 2010. Why are people moving out of nonmetro areas? Probably to find a job. According to the researchers, "nonmetro employment growth slowed in 2011 and fell to zero or slightly below thereafter."

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Here's a trend that may explain the nation's slow household growth and the outright decline in the number of households headed by 25-to-34-year-olds: the rise of the "shared household." A shared household has at least one "additional adult"—defined as a household member aged 18 or older who is not in school nor the householder, spouse, or cohabiting partner. Take a look at the trend in shared households since 2007...

Number of shared households (and percent of total households)
2014: 23.5 million (19.1%)
2007: 19.7 million (17.0%)

Number of adults living in shared households (and percent of total adults)
2014: 74 million (30.9%)
2007: 62 million (27.7%)

Between 2013 and 2014, the number of additional adults in shared households grew by 1.8 million. Among adults aged 25 to 34 in 2014, fully 25.2 percent (10.7 million) were additional adults in a shared household, explaining the decline in the number of households headed by 25-to-34-year-olds.

Monday, October 13, 2014

The use of private vehicles for commuting to work has declined among younger Americans, according to a Brookings analysis of American Community Survey data. Workers under age 25, in particular, were less likely to commute to work by private vehicle in 2013 than in 2007.

In 2013, 82.4 percent of workers under age 25 commuted to work by car—1.3 percentage points less than in 2007. Workers aged 25 to 54 were 0.9 percentage points less likely to commute by private vehicle, while workers aged 55 or older were driving more.

Thursday, October 09, 2014

Life expectancy at birth reached a record high of 78.8 years in 2012, reports the National Center for Health Statistics. Life expectancy at age 65 also hit a record high in 2012. Since 1950, life expectancy at age 65 has increased by 5.4 years...

Wednesday, October 08, 2014

It might be too soon to call this a trend, but average household spending on college tuition fell 6 percent between 2012 and 2013, after adjusting for inflation. This is quite a reversal for a category that had been growing like there was no tomorrow. Between 2007 and 2012, average household spending on college tuition climbed 27 percent.

College enrollment fell by 930,000 between 2011 and 2013. This means 2012 might have been the peak year for household spending on college tuition. The spending spree was bound to end as young adults and their parents struggle to pay college expenses while their household incomes decline.

According to a Pew Research Center analysis, fully 69 percent of 2011-12 college graduates (defined as those earning a bachelor's degree) have student loans, up from 49 percent two decades ago. The 2011-12 graduates with loans owe more than twice as much as their counterparts in 1992-93: a median of $26,885 versus $12,434 (in 2013 dollars).

Tuesday, October 07, 2014

The release of 2014 Current Population Survey data a few weeks ago was almost ho-hum. Median household income was unchanged, and there were few clues about emerging trends.

But one thing stood out: the decline in households headed by 25-to-34-year-olds. The number fell by a small but surprising 8,994 between 2013 and 2014. The decline was a surprise because the 25-to-34-year-old population is growing by more than half a million a year, and households headed by the age group had been growing by more than 100,000 a year—until now. What happened?

To find out, let's take a look at which household types in the 25-to-34 age group contributed to the 2013-14 decline: married couples (down 89,216), women who live alone (down 88,688), and men who live alone (down 44,932).

These declines are a sign of economic distress. A Pew Research Center survey has uncovered the reason why so many 25-to-34-year-olds aren't marrying: they're looking for a partner with a steady job. With rents rising and student loan payments looming, fewer can afford to live by themselves while waiting for Mr. (or Ms.) Right. Looking back, we should have seen this coming. Since 2010, the annual increase in the number of households headed by 25-to-34-year-olds has been shrinking to the point where there's no increase at all...

Monday, October 06, 2014

Americans don't know much about infectious disease. A Harris poll asked the public for its best guess of the mortality rate of various infectious diseases once someone has the disease. Using sources such as the CDC and Wikipedia, Demo Memo compared perception to reality. Surprisingly, the public is pretty accurate at estimating the Ebola mortality rate. For other diseases, such as rabies, the gap between perception and reality is disturbing...

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Less valuable than a degree from a public institution, according to a recent field experiment. By submitting fictitious resumes to real job postings on an online job board, researchers compared employer response to college degrees from different types of schools.

Employers do notice and care about where you got your degree, the researchers discovered. A resume listing a bachelor's degree in business from a for-profit school was 22 percent less likely to get a callback than a resume listing the same degree from a nonselective public school.

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Households headed by Americans aged 65 or older can be segmented into six clusters based on their spending patterns, say researchers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Using data from the 2010-11 Consumer Expenditure Survey, the analysts identified these types...

1. Basic need-meeters (26.9%). The largest and poorest cluster, this segment had an average income of $33,124 in 2010-11 and spent just $23,679. Because of their limited resources, Basic Need-Meeters must devote the largest share of their spending to essentials (43 percent).2. Housing burdened (25.9%). Fully 78 percent of households in this cluster are still making mortgage payments compared with only 23 to 34 percent of households in the other clusters. Consequently, the Housing Burdened devote the largest share of their budget to mortgage (or rent)—fully 42 percent of their spending versus only 5 to 17 percent in the other clusters.3. Health care burdened (21.1%). The second-poorest cluster, this group is defined by its outsized out-of-pocket health care spending—or 27 percent of its $29,818 overall spending. Other groups devote only 10 to 12 percent of their spending to health care.4. Transportation burdened (12.1%). Although this group spent a relatively large $44,245 in 2010-11, it had to devote a hefty 33 percent of that spending to transportation. Fully 60 percent of this group lives in smaller cities of the South and Midwest.5. Happy retirees (6.3%). This is the richest group, with average annual spending of $54,813. They devote a hefty 31 percent of their budget to "expendables" (entertainment, travel, and household operations). The average income of Happy Retirees and Balanced Budgeters is about the same, but Happy Retirees spend more.6. Balanced budgeters (5.4%). This group is almost as affluent as Happy Retirees, but it spends less ($47,920 versus $54,813). They devote about an average amount to various budget items, which is why they are considered "balanced."

ABOUT ME

Demographer and editorial director of New Strategist Press, Cheryl Russell is the former editor-in-chief of American Demographics magazine and The Boomer Report. She has written numerous books about demographic trends. Ms. Russell is a professional demographer with a master's degree from Cornell University.